N.K. set to cement Kim’s power before rocket launch

North Korea said Monday its ruling Workers’ Party will hold a special conference on April 11 in Pyongyang where it is expected to name its new leader Kim Jong-un as General Secretary of the Workers’ Party, the party’s highest post.

The scheduled conference comes just before Pyongyang’s planned launch of a rocket to put a satellite into orbit between April 12 and 16 and also to mark the 100th year of the North’s late founder Kim Il-sung’s birth on April 15.

The Workers’ Party conference is one of two significant meetings in mid-April which are expected to boost the stature of the young leader following the death of his father Kim Jong-il on Dec. 17, analysts say.

The North also plans to hold the annual session of its parliament, the Supreme People’s Assembly, on April 13. There, Kim could be appointed Chairman of the National Defense Commission, the post that his father Kim Jong-il held, or to a new post equivalent to it. The assembly’s major functions include adopting, amending or supplementing enactments to the constitution, setting state policy and budgets and electing the chairman, vice-chairman and members of the National Defense Commission.

The South Korean government sees a series of planned political and military moves in the North as part of Pyongyang’s efforts to settle the new leadership of its regime, Unification Ministry spokesperson Kim Hyung-suk said.

“It would not be appropriate for us to speak about the intention of the North Korean authorities. But basically, we interpret the North’s external moves as a way to settle the North’s new leadership,” Kim said.

The North’s Workers’ Party conference on April 11 coincides with South Korea’s parliamentary elections.

North Korea analyst Cheong Seong-chang said the North will deflect the international community’s attention from South Korea by holding the ruling party conference on the same day.

“It is a natural step for North Korea to appoint Kim to the ruling party’s top post and then, chairman of the National Defense Commission or a new equivalent post,” Cheong said.

“After Kim Il-sung died, Kim Jong-il wrapped up the transition of power by being appointed as general secretary of the party in 1997 and chairman of the National Defense Commission in 1998.”

By Kim Yoon-mi (yoonmi@heraldcorp.com)